Mobile terminal, method for controlling games, and computer readable recording medium

ABSTRACT

Progression of a game executed at a mobile terminal is changed in response to the current location of the mobile terminal. A portable telephone set receives a control signal transmitted via radio from a base station controlling the radio area in which the portable telephone set is currently located. Then, the received control signal is demodulated to detect the base station ID code, which is in turn stored in an ID code storage area. The update processing of the base station ID code is successively carried out during the waiting time and a latest base station ID code is stored in the ID code storage area. Then, in the course of the progression of a game, enemy characters to combat, items to be generated, and the branching of the game scenario are controlled in accordance with the value of the base station ID code stored in the ID code storage area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to video games, and more particularly to amobile terminal, a method for controlling games, and a computer readablerecording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, portable game machines have sprung into widespread use, withwhich one can enjoy playing video games without being limited by placeor time. Some recent portable electronic devices such as portabletelephone sets, PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), electronic notebooks,and notebook personal computers have a game function in addition to thefunctions that the electronic devices originally have. Portable gamemachines and these electronic devices are small and transportable, sothat the user can use these devices at various places.

There is a technique, disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent PublicationNo. 322775, published in 1998, which addresses the fact that the devicecan be used at various places and allows the positional information ofthe device to be acquired and used to control the device. Thispublication describes a control technique of an electronic device thatreceives base station identification signals transmitted fromcontrolling base stations in response to incoming and outgoing calls tocount the signals and displays character images of imaginary livingbodies or creatures, which are different depending on the base stationidentification signal, when the result of the counting has reached apredetermined value. By this method, character images of the imaginaryliving bodies or creatures, which are different from one anotherdepending on the area that the base stations control, can be displayed.

However, the method described in the aforementioned publication, onlydisplays character images on a display screen, which are different fromone another, depending on the area the base stations control, inaccordance with the acquired positional information of the device. Thismethod is not especially enjoyable as a game.

The present invention was developed in view of the aforementionedproblems. Its object is to provide a mobile terminal, a method forcontrolling a game, and a computer readable recording medium, which canvary the progression of the game to be executed on the mobile terminal,in accordance with the current location of the mobile terminal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a mobile terminalincludes an input system that inputs data in response to a location ofthe mobile terminal, and a determining system that determines thelocation of the mobile terminal in accordance with the data input by theinput system. The mobile terminal also includes a progress system thatallows a game to proceed in response to the location determined by thedetermination system in a progression of the game to be executed inresponse to operation input; and a display that displays images inresponse to the progression of the game by the progress system.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the mobile terminal ischaracterized in that the data is base station identificationinformation provided uniquely for each of a number of base stations,with which the mobile terminal carries out communications, and foridentifying each base station.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the mobile terminal alsoincludes a branch information storage that stores a correspondencerelationship between a location and scenario branch information forbranching a scenario progression of a game. The progress system branchesthe progression of the game in response to the scenario branchinformation stored in the branch information storage corresponding tothe location determined by the determination system.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the mobile terminal alsoincludes a character storage that stores a correspondence relationshipbetween a location and one or more game characters. The progress systemdetermines a game character to be displayed, from the one or more gamecharacters stored in the character storage corresponding to the locationthat is determined by the determination system, to vary the progressionof the game.

In the first aspect of the present invention, in which an item has anattribute for giving a variation to a game progression, the mobileterminal also includes an item storage that stores a correspondencerelationship between a position and one or more items. The progresssystem determines an item to be displayed, from the one or more itemsstored in the item storage corresponding to the location determined bythe determination system, to vary the progression of the game.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the mobile terminal alsoincludes a data acquisition system that acquires programs and data of agame from another apparatus which can communicate with multiple basestations or each of the base stations. The progression system allows thegame to proceed in accordance with programs and data of the game, whichthe data acquisition system has acquired.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a mobile terminalwhich can receive radio signals transmitted by each of the base stationsincludes a detector that detects radiowave reception intensity of radiosignals transmitted by the base stations. The mobile terminal alsoincludes a progress system that allows a game to proceed according tothe radiowave reception intensity detected by the detector in the courseof the progression of the game which is carried out in response tooperation input; and a display that displays images in response to theprogression of the game.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a method forcontrolling a game in a mobile terminal includes inputting data inresponse to a location of the mobile terminal; determining the locationof the mobile terminal in accordance with the data input; allowing thegame to proceed in response to the determined location in the course ofthe progression of the game to be carried out in response to operationinput; and displaying images in response to the progression of the game.

In the third aspect of the present invention, the method for controllingthe game is characterized in that the data is base stationidentification information provided uniquely for each of the basestations, with which the mobile terminal carries out communications, andfor identifying each base station.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a method forcontrolling a game at a mobile terminal which can receive radio signalstransmitted by each of a number of base stations includes detecting aradiowave reception intensity of radio signals transmitted by basestations; allowing the game to proceed according to the radiowavereception intensity detected in the course of the progression of thegame which is carried out in response to operation input; and displayingimages in response to the progression of the game.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a computerreadable recording medium in which programs of a game to be executed ona mobile terminal are stored is characterized by storing programs forallowing a computer to: input data corresponding to a location of themobile terminal; determine the location of the mobile terminal inaccordance with the input data; carry out the game in response to thedetermined location in the progression of the game to be executed and inresponse to operation input; and display images according to theprogression of the game.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, the computer programstored in the computer readable recording medium is characterized inthat the data is base station identification information provideduniquely for each of the base stations and for identifying each basestation.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, the computer programstored on the computer readable recording medium is also characterizedin that, in a case where a game is allowed to proceed, progression of ascenario of the game is branched in accordance with scenario branchinformation stored beforehand corresponding to the location determined.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, the computer programstored on the computer readable recording medium is furthercharacterized in that, in a case where a game is allowed to proceed, agame character to be displayed is determined, from one or more gamecharacters stored beforehand, corresponding to the determined locationto vary the progression of the game.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, the computer programstored on the computer readable recording medium is characterized inthat, an item has an attribute for giving a variation to a gameprogression, and in a case where a game is allowed to proceed, an itemto be displayed is determined, from one or more items stored beforehand,corresponding to the determined location to vary the progression of thegame.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, the computer programstored on the computer readable recording medium is furthercharacterized in that, before a game is allowed to proceed, programs anddata of the game are acquired from a base station or other apparatuswhich can communicate with the base station. In a case where the game isallowed to proceed, the game is allowed to proceed in accordance withthe acquired programs and data of the game.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a computerreadable recording medium in which programs of a game to be executed ona mobile terminal which can receive radio signals transmitted from eachof a number of base stations are stored is characterized by storing theprograms for allowing the computer to detect radiowave receptionintensity of radio signals transmitted by the base stations. Thecomputer also executes the game according to the radiowave receptionintensity detected in the course of the progression of the game, whichis carried out in response to operation input, and displays images inresponse to the progression of the game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view showing the network configuration of a mobile radiocommunications system, according to an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of aportable telephone set, according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a view showing an exemplary memory configuration of the RAM ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the charactercontrol table stored in a game data storage region of the RAM of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the item controltable stored in a game data storage region of the RAM of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the scenariocontrol table stored in a game data storage region of the RAM of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory conceptual views showing the scenariobranch of a game;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing an example of ID code storageprocessing;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing an example of the processing of a game;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are views showing an example of character images thatappear on a display in step S207 of the game processing of FIG. 9;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are views showing an example of item images thatappear on a display in step S210 of the game processing of FIG. 9;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are views showing an example of transition of gamescenarios that are controllably branched in the game processing of FIG.9;

FIG. 13 is a view showing an exemplary memory configuration of the RAM,according to a modification of the first embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the charactercontrol table stored in a game data storage area of the RAM of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the itemcontrol table stored in a game data storage area of the RAM of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the scenariocontrol table stored in a game data storage area of the RAM of FIG. 13;

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram showing an example of ID code storageprocessing, according to a modification of the first embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram showing an example of the processing of agame, according to a modification of the first embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a view showing an example of a system for downloadingprograms and data relating to a game from other apparatus to a portabletelephone set via a base station;

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram showing an example of the download processingto be executed in a portable telephone set;

FIG. 21 is a view showing another example of a system for downloadingprograms and data relating to a game from other apparatus to a portabletelephone set via base stations; and

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing an exemplary circuit configuration ofa portable game apparatus, according to a second embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments relating to the present invention are explained indetail below with reference to the drawings. Furthermore, a firstembodiment describes the case in which the present invention is appliedto a portable telephone set.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a view showing the network configuration of a mobile radiocommunication system, according to an aspect of the present invention.For example, a mobile radio communications system 1 comprises a portabletelephone specific network 3 which includes a relay exchange 7, mobileexchanges 8 a, 8 b, and a center 9. The mobile radio communicationssystem 1 also comprises base stations 4 a, 4 b, 4 c, 4 d, 4 e, and 4 f(hereinafter referred to as 4 a-4 f) which are connected to acorresponding one of the mobile exchanges 8 a, 8 b to control each ofcorresponding radio areas 5 a , 5 b, 5 c, 5 d, 5 e, and 5 f (hereinafterreferred to as 5 a-5 f), and a portable telephone set 6.

In the portable telephone specific network 3, in order to smoothlyconnect calls to the portable telephone set 6, the portable telephoneset 6 has a location in one of the radio areas 5 a-5 f registered withthe center 9.

The outline of the operation of the portable telephone specific network3 for this location registration is as follows. Each of the basestations 4 a- 4 f transmits within the controlled radio areas 5 a-5 fvia radio a control signal including a base station ID (Identification)code that is uniquely set to each of the base stations. For example,this control signal is transmitted via radio from each of the basestations 4 a- 4 f periodically at predetermined intervals, for example,every several hundreds of a millisecond.

The portable telephone set 6 receives the control signal at the time ofabsence of speech, that is, during a waiting time. Then, the receivedcontrol signal is demodulated to detect the base station ID code.Thereafter, the detected base station ID code is compared with the basestation ID codes that have been detected previously and stored in theinternal memory. In cases where they do not coincide with each other,the portable telephone set 6 transmits a request for locationregistration to a corresponding base station. Upon receiving the requestfor location registration from the portable telephone set 6, theportable telephone specific network 3 updates the location registrationinformation, which has been registered with the center 9, correspondingto the portable telephone set 6.

The present invention makes use of base station ID codes included in thecontrol signals that are transmitted by the base stations 4 a- 4 f viaradio in order to control the contents of games to be executed at theportable telephone set 6.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary circuit configuration ofthe portable telephone set 6 of FIG. 1. The portable telephone set 6comprises, for example, an antenna 61, a RF (Radio Frequency) portion62, a MODEM portion 63, a speech codec portion 65, a speech conversioncircuit 66, a loudspeaker 67, a microphone 68, a CPU (Central ProcessingUnit) 69, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 70, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 71,a key input portion 72, a display drive circuit 73, and a display 74.

The signal received by the antenna 61 is amplified and is subjected tofrequency conversion. Then, demodulating processing is performed in theMODEM portion 63 to extract data required from the received signal.Digital speech data included in the received data is expanded in thespeech codec portion 65 to be output via the speech conversion circuit66 and the loudspeaker 67.

On the other hand, an analog speech signal to be input from themicrophone 68 is converted into digital speech data in the speechconversion circuit 66 and then compressed in the speech codec portion65. The compressed digital speech data or other data to be transmittedare subjected to modulation processing in the MODEM portion 63. Then,they are subjected to frequency conversion, amplification, and the likein the RF portion 62, and thereafter transmitted via radio from theantenna 61.

The CPU 69 executes ID code storage processing (refer to FIG. 8) andgame processing (refer to FIG. 9) in accordance with programs stored inthe ROM 70. The ROM 70 stores programs and data therein for controllingthe communications function and game function to be implemented at theportable telephone set 6.

For example, the ROM 70 stores the programs and data for controlling theID code storage processing (refer to FIG. 8), which is described later.The ROM 70 also stores the game programs for controlling the gameprocessing (refer to FIG. 9), which is described later, and the datarequired for controlling the progression of games. The data required forcontrolling the progression of games are, for example, a charactercontrol table (refer to FIG. 4), an item control table (refer to FIG.5), a scenario control table (refer to FIG. 6), image data of charactersand items to appear on the display 74 in response to the execution ofgames, control data, and scenario data.

The RAM 71 is a memory for storing temporarily programs and data. Thekey input portion 72 comprises a plurality of control keys. The displaydrive circuit 73 comprises a circuit for controllably driving thedisplay 74, a display buffer, and a CG (Character Generator). Thedisplay 74 comprises a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and displays imagesand letters.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the memory configuration of the RAM 71 of FIG.2. The RAM 71 has, for example, an ID code storage area 71 a, a gamedata storage area 71 b, and a work area 71 c.

In the ID code storage area 71 a, a base station ID code 80 extractedfrom a demodulated signal is stored as the current location informationof the portable telephone set 6. The base station ID code 80 isconstituted by a total of N digits in hexadecimal from the first toN^(th) digit (N is a natural number 8 or greater). A game program 85 forcontrolling a game, a character control table 81, an item control table82, and a scenario control table 83, which are to be described later,are read from the ROM 70 to be stored in the game data storage area 71 bas required. In the work area 71 c, programs and data, read from the ROM70 as required, for controlling the communications function are stored.In addition, image data and control data of characters and items arealso read from the ROM 70 as required to be stored in the work area 71c.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the charactercontrol table 81 to be stored in the game data storage area 71 b of theRAM 71. In the character control table 81, data is stored which isrequired for determining an enemy character fighting a player characterwhen the player character, which the user manipulates during the game,combats the enemy character.

The character control table 81 has, for example, an “ID code class”column 81 a and an “enemy character” column 81 b. In the “ID code class”column 81 a, class information of base station ID codes is stored. Theclass information of base station ID codes is a two-digit hexadecimalnumber. That is, in the “ID code class” column 81 a, hexadecimal numbersof two digits from “00”-“FF” are stored. In the “enemy character” column81 b, one or more types of enemy characters are stored corresponding tothe class information to be stored in the “ID code class” column 81 a.

In order to determine an enemy character to combat against, a numericvalue of two successive digits from a predetermined digit is firstdetected from the base station ID code 80 of N digits, which is storedin the ID code storage area 71 a. After that, in the character controltable 81, an enemy character to combat against is determined from one ormore enemy characters that are associated with the aforementioneddetected two digit numeric value.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the item controltable 82 to be stored in the game data storage area 71 b of the RAM 71.In order to generate a new item during a game, there is stored, in theitem control table 82, data required for determining the item.

The item control table 82 has, for example, an “ID code class” column 82a and an “item” column 82 b. In the “ID code class” column 82 a, classinformation of base station ID codes is stored. The class information ofbase station ID codes is a two-digit hexadecimal number. That is, in the“ID code class” column 82 a, hexadecimal numbers of two digits from“00”-“FF” are stored. In the “item” column 82 b, one or more types ofitems are stored corresponding to the class information to be stored inthe “ID code class” column 82 a.

In order to determine a new item to be generated, a numeric value of twosuccessive digits from a predetermined digit is first detected from thebase station ID code 80 of N digits, which is stored in the ID codestorage area 71 a. Subsequently, in the item control table 82, an itemto be generated is determined from one or more items that are associatedwith the aforementioned detected two digit numeric value.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the scenariocontrol table 83 to be stored in the game data storage area 71 b of theRAM 71. In the scenario control table 83, data is stored which isrequired to determine a branch scenario when the progression of a gameis branched during the game.

The scenario control table 83 has, for example, a “branch point No.”column 83 a, an “ID code class” column 83 b, and a “branch scenario”column 83 c. In the “branch point No.” column 83 a, branch pointinformation is stored which branches the progression of a scenario of agame. In the “ID code class” column 83 b, class information of basestation ID codes is stored. The class information of base station IDcodes is group class information of two-digit hexadecimal numbers. Thatis, in the “ID code class” column 83 a, group class information oftwo-digit hexadecimal numbers from “00”-“FF” is stored. For example, inthe scenario control table 83 shown in FIG. 6, two pieces of ID codeclass information, which include group class information from “00” to“7F” and group class information from “80” to “FF”, are stored in the“ID code class” column 83 b corresponding to branch point 1. In the“branch scenario” column 83 c, branch scenario ID information is storedcorresponding to each class of information to be stored in the “ID codeclass” column 83 b.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory conceptual views showing scenariobranches. FIG. 7(a) is a view showing an exemplary data structure ofscenario data. As shown in FIG. 7(a), scenario data 86 of a gamecomprises head scenario so that is a scenario of the outset portion ofthe game and not branched and each of branch scenarios a1, a2, b1, b2,b3 and so forth. The scenario data 86 is stored in the ROM 70 and willbe stored in the work area 71 c of the RAM 71 in response to theprogression of the game.

FIG. 7(b) is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between theprogression of a game and scenario branches. As shown in FIG. 7(c), whenany one of branch points is reached in the course of the progression ofthe game, one of the branch scenarios is selected in accordance with thevalue of the base station ID code 80 stored in the ID code storage area71 a. Then, later progression of the game is controlled following theselected branch scenario.

To explain in more detail, when any one of the branch points is reachedin the course of the progression of a game, the No. of the branch pointreached is first determined. In addition, a numeric value of twosuccessive digits from a predetermined digit is detected from the basestation ID code 80 of N digits, which is stored in the ID code storagearea 71 a. Subsequently, in the scenario control table 83 (refer to FIG.6), it is identified which ID code class corresponding to the determinedbranch point No. the detected two-digit numeral value is associatedwith. Thereafter, the branch scenario information corresponding to theidentified ID code class is acquired and the corresponding branchscenario data is read from the scenario data 86 of the ROM 70 to betransferred to the work area 71 c of the RAM 71. Thus, the laterprogression of the game is controlled in accordance with the branchscenario transferred to the work area 71 c.

Furthermore, the aforementioned class information of the base station IDcodes that is stored in the “ID code class” columns 81 a, 82 a, 83 b isnot limited to the aforementioned two-digit hexadecimal numbers. Thatis, the class information may be a hexadecimal number having four digitsconstituted by each of the (N−6)^(th) digit, the (N−e)^(th) digit, the(N−1)^(th) digit, and the N^(th) digit of the N-digit base station IDcode, and thus may be changed as appropriate. In addition, such aconfiguration may be employed to perform operation using numericalvalues of part of or all of the digits of a base station ID code andthen the class information of the base station ID code is set inaccordance with the value of the solution. Moreover, the base station IDcode may be constituted by numeric values other than hexadecimalnumbers, for example, decimal numbers. Furthermore, the number of digitsof the base station ID code may be 8 bits or less.

Next, the specific operation of the portable telephone set 6 accordingto the first embodiment is explained.

In some cases, the control carried out in the portable telephone set 6includes such control that a circuit other than the CPU 69 performs incooperation with the CPU 69.

For convenience in explanation, in the explanation that follows, theexplanation will be given on the precondition that the control to whichthe CPU 69 is related is under direct control of the CPU 69. Inaddition, programs and data, which are required for implementing thecommunications function and game function, are transferred from the ROM70 to the RAM 71 successively in accordance with the command of the CPU69 in response to the situation of the progression of processing.However, in the explanation given below, for ease of understanding ofthe present invention, a description of reading data from the ROM 70 andtransferring data to the RAM 71 will not given in detail.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing an embodiment of ID code storageprocessing. This ID code storage processing shows the case where controlsignals are intermittently received, which are transmitted via radiofrom base stations, during a waiting period of the portable telephoneset 6. For example, the base station transmits a control signal everyseveral hundreds of a millisecond “m/sec”. The ID code storageprocessing is carried out successively in accordance with an interruptrequest in order to receive the control signal transmitted from the basestation at the time of absence of speech in the portable telephone set6, that is, during the waiting time thereof.

When the processing is started, the CPU 69 initially receives a controlsignal that is periodically transmitted via radio from the base stationthat controls the radio area to which the portable telephone set 6belongs (step S101). Then, the CPU 69 measures the radiowave intensitylevel of the control signal received (step S102). Subsequently, the CPU69 repeats the processing of the step S101 and S102 m times (m is anatural number) (step S103), and calculates the average value of theradiowave intensity level of the m control signals received (step S104).Then, the CPU 69 determines whether the calculated average value of theradiowave intensity level is greater than or equal to the predeterminedvalue that has been set beforehand (step S105).

When the average value of the radiowave intensity level has not reachedthe predetermined value, the CPU 69 determines that the portabletelephone set 6 has moved to a radio area of another base station andthen carries out the base station search processing (step S106). Then,the CPU 69 makes the setting to receive intermittently a control signalfrom the base station searched (step S107) and thereafter returns tostep On the other hand, when it has been determined in theaforementioned step S105 that the average value of the radiowaveintensity level has reached the predetermined value, the control signalreceived for a m^(th) time is demodulated to detect the base station IDcode (step S108). Then, the CPU 69 compares the base station ID code 80that has been previously detected and stored in the ID code storage area71 a with the base station ID code that has been detected in step S108(step S109). Then, it is determined whether the comparison results inmatched codes (step S110). When the comparison results indicate thatthere is no match, the CPU 69 transmits a request for locationregistration to the base station to allow the portable telephonespecific network 3 to perform the location registration processing.Then, the base station ID code that has been detected in step S108 isstored in the ID code storage area 71 a as the new location informationof the portable telephone set 6 (step S111). After step S111 and whenthere is a match, the process ends.

By carrying out this ID code storage processing, the base station IDcode is stored in the ID code storage area 71 a as the current locationinformation of the portable telephone set 6. Furthermore, the ID codestorage processing is carried out successively in accordance with aninterrupt request even during the execution of the game processing(refer to FIG. 9), which is described later.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing an example of the game processing. Thegame processing is carried out during the waiting time of the portabletelephone set 6 and when the user operates the key input portion 72 toinput a start request of a game. The CPU 69 starts the game inaccordance with the game program 85 stored in the game data storage area71 b of the RAM 71 and performs the control relating to the progressionof the game (step S201 ). For example, the CPU 69 responds to theoperation input of the user to move the player character appearing onthe display 74 or perform control of combat against an enemy character.

Subsequently, it is determined during the control relating to theprogression of the game that processing executed by using a base stationID code has occurred (step S202). The processing executed by using abase station ID code is, for example, encounter processing fordetermining an enemy character to combat against, item generationprocessing for generating a new item, or scenario branch processing forcontrolling the branching of scenarios.

The presence or absence of occurrence of the encounter processing isdetermined as follows. That is, during the period in which the playercharacter is moving on a game map, operational processing is carried outwhich allows combat against an enemy character to occur in accordancewith a predetermined probability. When the operation processing worksout that combat against an enemy character has occurred, it isdetermined that the execution of the encounter processing has occurred.

Moreover, the presence or absence of occurrence of the item processingis determined as follows. That is, when the player character has won thecombat with the enemy character or an operational command has been givenfor opening a treasure box (item box) located on the game field, it isdetermined that the execution of the item processing has occurred.

Furthermore, the presence or absence of occurrence of the scenariobranch processing is determined as follows. That is, when the game hasprogressed up to a pre-set branch point of the scenario in the course ofthe progression of the game, it is determined that the execution of thescenario branch processing has occurred. In addition, when a pre-setscenario branch condition is met during the game such as in the casewhere various types of parameters, associated with the player character,which indicate the combat ability of the player character satisfy acertain condition, it is determined that the execution of the scenariobranch processing has occurred.

In the case where processing that requires a base station ID code, thatis, the aforementioned encounter processing, the item generationprocessing, and the scenario branch processing has not occurred, theprocess will move on to step S214. On the other hand, in cases where theexecution of any one of the encounter processing, the item generationprocessing, and the scenario branch processing has occurred, the basestation ID code 80 stored in the ID code storage area 71 a is acquiredfirst (step S203). Then, the type of the processing that has occurred isidentified (step S204).

In the case of the occurrence of the encounter processing (step S205),the character control table 81 (refer to FIG. 4) is referred to first toidentify the ID code class to which the base station ID code 80 belongsthat has been acquired in step S203. Then, from one or more enemycharacters associated with the ID code class that has been identified,the type of enemy character to combat is determined, for example, bymeans of random numbers (step S206). Then, the image data and controldata of the determined enemy character are read from the work area 71 cof the ROM 70 or the RAM 71 and allowed to be displayed on the display74 (step S207), and thereafter the process will move on to step S214.

FIG. 10(a) and FIG. 10(b) show examples of character images to bedisplayed on the display 74 according to the game processing of FIG. 9.FIG. 10(a) shows an example of the screen display where the portabletelephone set 6 is located in the radio area of base station A with thebase station ID code that belongs to an ID code class of “00” in thecharacter control table 81 shown in FIG. 4. When the ID code class is“00”, three enemy characters, EC1, EC2, and EC3 are possibly displayedas combat opponents as shown in FIG. 4. The character imagescorresponding to these three enemy characters, EC1, EC2, and EC3 arecharacter image 91 (EC1), 92 (EC2), and 93 (EC3) in FIG. 10(a).Accordingly, when the portable telephone set 6 is located in the radioarea of base station A, any one of the three screen display examplesshown in FIG. 10(a) is to be displayed on the display 74 at the time ofthe encounter.

FIG. 10(b) shows an example of the screen display where the portabletelephone set 6 is located in the radio area of base station B with thebase station ID code that belongs to an ID code class of “01” in thecharacter control table 81 shown in FIG. 4. When the ID code class is“01”, two enemy characters, EC3 and EC4 are possibly displayed as combatopponents as shown in FIG. 4. The character images corresponding tothese two enemy characters, EC3 and EC4 are character image 93 (EC3) and94 (EC4) in FIG. 10(b). Accordingly, when the portable telephone set 6is located in the radio area of base station B, any one of the twoscreen display examples shown in FIG. 10(b) is to be displayed on thedisplay 74 at the time of the encounter.

Furthermore, in the screen display examples shown in FIG. 10a) and FIG.10(b), the letters displayed on each of the lower portions of thecharacter images 91, 92, and 93 are control data of enemy characters.The “Name” indicates the name of the enemy character. The “LV” is thelevel of the enemy character, which is a numeric value indicating aguideline of the strength (the larger the numeral value, the strongerthe enemy). In addition, the “HP (Hit Point)” indicates the physicalfitness value of the enemy character. The character image data andcontrol data are stored in the ROM 70 and transferred to the work area71 c of the RAM 71 as required. The data are then transferred to thedisplay drive circuit 73 to be displayed on the display 74 in responseto the display command from the CPU 69.

Furthermore, the screen display examples shown in FIG. 10(a) and FIG.10(b) show the case in which only the current positions of the users whoare playing the game are different from each other with all otherconditions being the same with each other. As such, the enemy charactersto combat against can be made different from each other as shown in FIG.10(a) and FIG. 10(b) in response to the areas where the users areplaying the game.

The encounter processing allows an enemy character being fought to bedetermined on the condition that the area in which the user is playingthe game is within the current location of the portable telephone set 6.Therefore, the user can combat a different enemy character according tothe area in which the user is playing the game with the portabletelephone set 6. Consequently, the user can play the game in a differentarea to enjoy playing against a new enemy character and thus theinterest in the game can be enhanced.

In addition, such a game may be conceivable in which the user can use,as his player character, the enemy character that the user has foughtand defeated. In this case, from the fact that different enemycharacters appear depending on the area, the user will have fun movingto various areas in order to obtain various characters to play the game.In addition, the user is allowed to exchange information, with otherusers in different areas, as to which characters are available in whichareas. Thus, the portable telephone set 6 can enhance not only theinterest in the game but also the usefulness of the portable telephoneset 6 itself as a communications tool. Moreover, for example, in thecase where the portable telephone set 6 is currently located innortheastern parts of Japan, “Namahage” which is a monster handed downin the northeastern parts of Japan can be allowed to appear in the game.Thus, the appearance control of characters that makes the most oflocality can be performed.

On the other hand, if the processing that has occurred is the itemgeneration processing (step S208), the item control table 82 (refer toFIG. 5) is referred to first in order to identify the ID code class towhich the base station ID code 80 acquired in step S203 belongs. Then,the type of the item to be generated is determined, for example, bymeans of random numbers, from one or more items that have beenassociated with the ID code class identified (step S209). Then, theimage data and control data of the item that has been determined areread from the work area 71 c of the ROM 70 or the RAM 71 and displayedon the display 74 (step S210), and thereafter the process will move onto step S214.

FIG. 11(a) and FIG. 11(b) show examples of item images to be displayedin the display 74 by the game processing of FIG. 9. FIG. 11(a) is a viewshowing a screen display example where the portable telephone set 6 islocated in the radio area of base station A with the base station IDcode that belongs to an ID code class of “00” in the item control table82 shown in FIG. 5. When the ID code class is “00”, only item R1 canappear, as shown in FIG. 5. The item image corresponding to the item R1is an item image 95 (R1) in FIG. 11(a). Accordingly, when the portabletelephone set 6 is located in the radio area of base station A, thescreen display example shown in FIG. 11(a) is to be displayed on thedisplay 74 at the time of appearance of an item.

Moreover, FIG. 11(b) shows an example of the screen display when theportable telephone set 6 is located in the radio area of base station Cwith the base station ID code that belongs to an ID code class of “03”in the item control table 82 shown in FIG. 5. When the ID code class is“03”, two items R3 and R4 possibly appear as shown in FIG. 5.

The character images corresponding to these two items R3 and R4 are itemimages 96 (R3) and 97 (R4) in FIG. 11(b). Accordingly, when the portabletelephone set 6 is located in the radio area of base station C, any oneof the two screen display examples shown in FIG. 11(b) can be displayedon the display 74 at the time of occurrence of items.

Furthermore, in the screen display examples shown in FIG. 11(a) and FIG.11(b), the letters that are displayed at each of the lower portions ofthe item images 95, 96, and 97 are control data of items. The “Name”indicates the name of the item. The “Type” indicates the type of theitem. The item image data and control data are stored in the ROM 70 andtransferred to the work area 71 c of the RAM 71 as required. The dataare then transferred to the display drive circuit 73 to be displayed onthe display 74 in response to the display command from the CPU 69.

Furthermore, the screen display examples shown in FIG. 11(a) and FIG.11(b) show the case in which only the current positions of the users whoare playing the game are different from each other with all otherconditions being the same with each other. As such, the items to begenerated can be made different from each other as shown in FIG. 11(a)and FIG. 11(b) in response to the areas where the users are playing thegame.

The item generation processing allows an item generated to be determinedon the condition that the area in which the user is playing the game iswithin the current location of the portable telephone set 6. Therefore,different items can be generated according to the area in which the useris playing the game with the portable telephone set 6. Consequently,from the fact that different items can be acquired depending on thearea, the user moves to various areas in order to obtain various itemsto play the game and thus the interest in the game can be enhanced. Inaddition, the user is allowed to exchange information, with other usersin different areas, as to which items are available in which areas.Thus, the portable telephone set 6 can also enhance the usefulness ofthe portable telephone set 6 itself as a communications tool. Moreover,controlling generation of items to make the most of locality can also beperformed.

On the other hand, if the processing that has occurred is scenariobranch processing (step S211), the scenario control table 83 (refer toFIG. 6) is referred to first to determine the branch point No. of thescenario. Then, based on the ID code class corresponding to thedetermined branch point No., the ID code class to which the base stationID code 80 acquired in step S203 is identified. Then, the scenario ofthe branch is determined in accordance with the branch scenarioinformation that is associated with the identified ID code class (stepS212). Then, the branch scenario data corresponding to the determinedbranch scenario information is read from the scenario data 86 of the ROM70 and then transferred to the work area 71 c of the RAM 71. Then, thesubsequent progression of the game is controlled in accordance with thebranch scenario data transferred to the work area 71 c (step S213).

FIG. 12(a) and FIG. 12(b) are schematic views showing a scenariotransition of the game scenarios of which branching is controlled by thegame processing of FIG. 9. FIG. 12(a) is a view showing the scenariotransition when the portable telephone set 6 is located in the radioarea of base station A with the base station ID code that belongs to anID code class of “00”. When the portable telephone set 6 is located inthe radio area of base station A, the branch scenario at each of thebranch points 1, 2, and 3 of the scenario control table 83 of FIG. 6 isas follows. That is, scenario a1 is given at branch point 1, scenario b1at branch point 2, and scenario c1 at branch point 3. Therefore, whenthe portable telephone set 6 is located in the radio area of basestation A, the scenario transition is effected from scenario so throughscenario a1 and scenario b1 to scenario c1, as shown in FIG. 12(a).

On the other hand, FIG. 12(b) is a view showing the scenario transitionwhen the portable telephone set 6 moves sequentially from the radio areaof base station A with the ID code class of “00” through the radio areaof base station D with the ID code class of “3E” to the radio area ofbase station E with the ID code class of “FF”. Furthermore, the movementtiming to another radio area is as shown in FIG. 12(b). In this case,the branch scenario at each of the branch points 1, 2, and 3 of thescenario control table 83 of FIG. 6 is as shown below. That is, atbranch point 1, the portable telephone set 6 is located in the radioarea of base station A with the ID code class of “00”, so that thebranch scenario is scenario al. At branch point 2, the portabletelephone set 6 is located in the radio area of base station D with theID code class of “3E”, so that the branch scenario is scenario b1. Atbranch point 3, the portable telephone set 6 is located in the radioarea of base station E with the ID code class of “FF”, so that thebranch scenario is scenario c2.

Therefore, the scenario transition is effected from scenario s0 throughscenario a1 and scenario b1 to scenario c2, as shown in FIG. 12(b). Assuch, the branch of a game scenario can be made different depending onthe area where the user is playing the game as shown in FIG. 12(a) andFIG. 12(b).

The scenario branch processing allows scenario branch control to beperformed on the condition that the area in which the user is playingthe game is within the current location of the portable telephone set 6.Therefore, the game scenario can be differently branched according tothe area in which the user is playing the game with the portabletelephone set 6. Consequently, the user may move to various areas inorder to enjoy various scenarios to play the game and thus the interestin the game can be enhanced. In addition, the user could enjoy the samegame differently many times at different areas where the user plays thegame. Moreover, in order to enjoy various scenario branches, the usermay exchange information with other people at different areas and thusthe portable telephone set 6 can also enhance the usefulness of theportable telephone set 6 itself as a communications tool. Moreover, thebranch control of a scenario that makes the most of a locality can alsobe performed.

In step S214, it is determined whether the termination conditions of thegame have been established (step S214). The termination conditions are,for example, a case where a request for the termination of the game hasbeen made in accordance with the control signal that is input at the keyinput portion 72 or a case where the portable telephone set 6 has anincoming call. If the termination conditions have not been established,saving processing such as for saving the data of the game in progress isperformed and thereafter the game processing is terminated.

Furthermore, in the aforementioned game processing, the progression ofthe game is controlled in accordance with only one base station ID code80 stored in the ID code storage area 71 a for identifying the areawhere the portable telephone set 6 is currently located. The control ofthe progression of the game means specifically the determination of anenemy character to combat, the determination of an item to be generated,and the control of branching of a game scenario. However, the ID codestorage area 71 a may be configured to store multiple base station IDcodes as a history up to the current time and control the progression ofa game using the base station ID codes. That is, this is a configurationin which the progression of the game is controlled in accordance withthe transition of areas where the portable telephone set 6 has beenlocated up to the current time.

According to the first embodiment, the portable telephone set 6 receivesa control signal transmitted via radio from the base station, ormultiple base stations, which controls the radio area where the portabletelephone set 6 is currently located. Then, the received control signalis demodulated to detect the base station ID code, which is in turnstored in the ID code storage area 71 a. This update processing of thebase station ID code is carried out successively during the waitingtime, and a latest base station ID code is stored in the ID code storagearea 71 a. In addition, in the course of the progression of the game,the game is allowed to proceed in accordance with the value of the basestation ID code 80 that is stored in the ID code storage area 71 a, andthe image corresponding to the progression of the game is displayed onthe display 74.

Therefore, the contents of the game such as scenario branching duringthe game and character images and item images to be displayed can bemade different in accordance with the area where the user is playing thegame. In addition, as the information regarding locations for allowingthe contents of the game to differ, base station ID codes are employedwhich are periodically transmitted from base stations for allowing thelocation of the portable telephone set 6 to be registered in the mobileradio communications system 1. Therefore, this allows the contents ofthe game to vary in accordance with the information regarding thecurrent position of the user.

Furthermore, the mobile radio communications system 1 is adapted to usethe base station ID codes, as position information, which areperiodically transmitted from base stations, thereby providing theadvantages to be described below.

That is, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.322775 of 1998, when base station identification information (a basestation ID code) is used which is acquired in response to an incoming oroutgoing call, the base station identification information that is readfrom the internal memory in the course of the progression of a game isonly positional information that is acquired at the time of the incomingor outgoing call. Therefore, this positional information was onlypositional information regarding the position where the user conductedspeech or communications in the past.

However, according to the first embodiment, a control signal thatcontains a base station ID code is transmitted periodically from thebase station and is received successively during the waiting time of theportable telephone set 6. Thus, in the course of the progression of thegame, the contents of the game can be varied in accordance with thepositional information that shows the current position of the user.Moreover, since the base station ID code is acquired during the waitingtime of the portable telephone set 6, the positional information of theuser can be acquired without speech or communications by means of theportable telephone set 6.

A Modification of the First Embodiment

Next, a modification of the first embodiment is explained. In theaforementioned first embodiment, described was the case where the basestation ID code transmitted via radio from a base station was used tocontrol the progression of the game that is executed at a portabletelephone set. In this modification, the progression of the game that isexecuted at the portable telephone set is controlled further using theradiowave reception intensity of the control signal transmitted viaradio from a base station. Furthermore, in this modification, thecomponents and processing that are the same as those of the firstembodiment are provided with the same reference numbers as those of thefirst embodiment, and duplicate explanation is omitted. Explanations aregiven below only to the points that are different from those of thefirst embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a view showing the memory configuration of a RAM of themodification. The RAM 75 has, for example, an ID code storage area 75 a,a game data storage area 75 b, and a work area 75 c.

In the ID code storage area 75 a, either a base station ID code 120 athat has been extracted from a demodulated control signal or levelinformation 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity of thecontrol signal is stored. In the ID code storage processing (refer toFIG. 17) to be described later, in the case where the average value ofthe radiowave intensity levels of the m control signals received isgreater than or equal to a predetermined value, that is, when it hasbeen determined that the radiowave reception state is not below acertain level and thus is in a good condition, the base station ID code120 a is stored in the ID code storage area 75 a. Moreover, in the casewhere the average value of the radiowave intensity levels of the mcontrol signals received is not more than a predetermined value, thatis, when it has been determined that the radiowave reception state isnot more than a certain level and thus is not in a good condition, thelevel information 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity ofthe control signal is stored in the ID code storage area 75 a.

Like the first embodiment, in the case where the state of the radiowavereception of the control signal is good, the progression of the game iscontrolled in accordance with the base station ID code 120 a stored inthe ID code storage area 75 a. Control different from the firstembodiment is carried out in the case where the state of the radiowavereception of the control signal is not good. Furthermore, the case wherethe state of the radiowave reception of the control signal is not goodincludes, for example, the state immediately after the portabletelephone set 6 has been moved into the radio area of another basestation, a case where the portable telephone set 6 is located in a spaceor in a building with no windows, which radiowaves hardly reach, or acase where the portable telephone set 6 is located in a district out ofcontrol of the mobile radio communications system.

In this modification, when the state of the radiowave reception of thecontrol signal is not good, the progression of the game is controlled inresponse to the radiowave reception intensity of the control signalinstead of the base station ID code. Accordingly, in the ID code storagearea 75 a, the level information 120 b regarding the radiowave receptionintensity of the control signal is stored in place of the base stationID code 120 a only when the state of the radiowave reception of thecontrol signal is not good. This level information 120 b is ranked level3, level 2, and level 1 in order of increasing radiowave receptionintensity.

Stored in the game data storage area 75 b are the character controltable 81 (refer to FIG. 4), the item control table 82 (refer to FIG. 5),and the scenario control table 83 (refer to FIG. 6), which have beendescribed in the first embodiment. Moreover, the game data storage area75 b stores a game program 125, a character control table 121, an itemcontrol table 122, and a scenario control table 123, which are necessaryfor the control of the progression of the game in response to theradiowave reception intensity of the control signal. These programs anddata are read from the ROM 70 and stored in the game data storage area75 b, as required.

FIG. 14 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the charactercontrol table 121 that is stored in the ID code storage area 75 a of theRAM 75. This character control table 121 is used, at the time of theencounter processing, to determine an enemy character to combat againstin response to the radiowave reception intensity of the control signal.The character control table 121 has, for example, a “radiowave receptionintensity” column 121 a and an “enemy character” column 121 b. In the“radiowave reception intensity” column 121 a, level informationregarding the radiowave reception intensity of the control signal isstored. In the “enemy character” column 121 b, one or more types ofenemy characters are stored corresponding to each of the informationlevels stored in the “radiowave reception intensity” column 121 a.

In cases where an enemy character to combat is determined in thismodification, it is determined first whether the data stored in the IDcode storage area 75 a is the base station ID code 120 a or the levelinformation 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity. If it isthe base station ID code 120 a, the enemy character is determined by themethod described in the first embodiment in accordance with thecorresponding base station ID code 120 a and character control table 81(refer to FIG. 4). That is, the enemy character to combat is determinedin accordance with the value of the base station ID code 120 a.

On the other hand, if the data stored in the ID code storage area 75 ais the level information 120 b regarding the radiowave receptionintensity, the process is carried out as follows. That is, an enemycharacter to combat against is determined, from one or more enemycharacters stored in the character control table 121, corresponding tothe level information 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity,which is stored in the ID code storage area 75 a.

FIG. 15 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the itemcontrol table 122 that is stored in the game data storage area 75 b ofthe RAM 75. This item control table 122 is used, at the time ofgeneration of items, to determine an item to be generated in response tothe radiowave reception intensity of the control signal. The itemcontrol table 122 has, for example, a “radiowave reception intensity”column 122 a and an “item” column 122 b. In the “radiowave receptionintensity” column 122 a, level information regarding the radiowavereception intensity of the control signal is stored. In the “item”column 122 b, one or more types of items are stored corresponding toeach of the pieces of the level information that is stored in the“radiowave reception intensity” column 122 a.

In cases where a new item to be generated is determined in thismodification, it is determined first whether the data stored in the IDcode storage area 75 a is the base station ID code 120 a or the levelinformation 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity. If it isthe base station ID code 120 a, the item to be generated is determinedby the method described in the first embodiment in accordance with thecorresponding base station ID code 120 a and item control table 82(refer to FIG. 5). That is, the item to be generated is determined inaccordance with the value of the base station ID code 120 a.

On the other hand, if the data stored in the ID code storage area 75 ais the level information 120 b regarding the radiowave receptionintensity, the process is carried out as follows. That is, an item to begenerated is determined, from one or more items stored in the itemcontrol table 122, corresponding to the level information 120 bregarding the radiowave reception intensity, which is stored in the IDcode storage area 75 a.

FIG. 16 is a view showing an exemplary data structure of the scenariocontrol table 123 to be stored in the game data storage area 75 b of theRAM 75. The scenario control table 123 is used to determine the branchscenario in accordance with the radiowave reception intensity of thecontrol signal at the time of branching the scenario progression of thegame.

The scenario control table 123 has, for example, a “branch point No.”column 123 a, a “radiowave reception intensity” column 123 b, and a“branch scenario” column 123 c. In the “branch point No.” column 123 a,branch point information is stored which branches the progression of thescenario of a game. In the “radiowave reception intensity” column 123 b,level information regarding the radiowave reception intensity of thecontrol signal is stored. In the “branch scenario” column 123 c, branchscenario information is stored corresponding to each of the pieces ofscenario information that is stored in the “radiowave receptionintensity” column 123 b.

In this modification example, the branch control of the scenarioprogression of a game is as shown below. That is, when any one of thebranch points is reached in the course of the progression of the game,the number of the branch point that has been reached is determinedfirst. In addition, it is determined whether the data stored in the IDcode storage area 75 a is the base station ID code 120 a or the levelinformation 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity. If it isthe base station ID code 120 a, the scenario branch of the game iscontrolled by the method described in the first embodiment in accordancewith the corresponding base station ID code 120 a and scenario controltable 83 (refer to FIG. 6). That is, the scenario branch is controlledin accordance with the value of the base station ID code 120 a.

On the other hand, if the data stored in the ID code storage area 75 ais the level information 120 b regarding the radiowave receptionintensity, the process is carried out as follows. That is, acquired isthe branch scenario information stored in the scenario control table123, corresponding to the determined branch point number and the levelinformation 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity that isstored in the ID code storage area 75 a. Subsequently, the correspondingbranch scenario data is read from the scenario data 86 of the ROM 70 andthen transferred to a work area 75 c of the RAM 75. Then, the subsequentprogression of the game is controlled in accordance with the branchscenario data that has been transferred to the work area 75 c.

The comparison between the scenario control table 123 shown in FIG. 16and the scenario control table 83 (refer to FIG. 4) that has beendescribed in the first embodiment indicates the following. That is,taking a look at the case of branch point 1, when the state of theradiowave reception of the control signal is good, the scenario can bebranched into scenario a1 or scenario a2 in accordance with the scenariocontrol table 83 (refer to FIG. 4) and the base station ID code 120 a.In contrast to this, when the state of the radiowave reception of thecontrol signal is not good, the scenario can be branched into scenarioa1 or scenario a2 at level 1, into only scenario a1 at level 2, and intoonly scenario a3, which is a special scenario, at level 3. As such, whenthe state of the radiowave reception of the control signal is not good,it is possible to limit the number of alternative branches providedrelative to when the state is good, or to add a new alternative.

Next, the operation of the portable telephone set 6 according to thismodification is explained.

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram showing an example of ID code storageprocessing in this modification. Furthermore, in this ID code storageprocessing, the same processing steps as those of the ID code storageprocessing (refer to FIG. 8) that has been described in the firstembodiment are provided with the same step numbers as those of the firstembodiment and duplicated explanations are omitted. More specifically,in this ID code storage processing, steps S101-S105 and steps S108-S111are the same as the ID code storage processing that has been describedin the first embodiment and therefore detailed explanations are omitted.

In this ID code storage processing, what is different from the ID codestorage processing that has been described in the first embodiment isthe case where it is determined in step S105 that the average value ofthe radiowave intensity of m control signals is not greater than apredetermined value. In this case, in this modification, the processingto be described below is executed.

That is, first, in accordance with the average value of the radiowaveintensity level of the control signal, which has been calculated in stepS104, the level information of the radiowave reception intensitycorresponding to the m control signals received is acquired (step S301).The level information of the radiowave reception intensity is rankedlevel 3, level 2, and level 1 in order of increasing radiowave receptionintensity. Numeric data for defining the upper and lower limits of theradiowave intensity has been set beforehand for each level. In stepS301, the corresponding level is identified by the comparison betweenthe calculated average value of the radiowave intensities and thenumeric data set for each level.

Subsequently, the acquired level information regarding the radiowavereception intensity is stored in the ID code storage area 75 a in placeof the base station ID code (step S302). Thereafter, the base stationsearch processing is carried out (step S106) and then the setting forreceiving intermittently control signals from the searched base stationis made (step S107), and then the process returns to step S101.

By carrying out this ID code storage processing, the base station IDcode 120 a is stored in the ID code storage area 75 a in the case wherethe average value of the radiowave intensity levels of the received mcontrol signals is not below a predetermined value, that is, when thestate of the radiowave reception of the control signal is good.Moreover, in the case where the average value of the radiowave intensitylevels of the received m control signals is not greater than apredetermined value, that is, when the state of the radiowave receptionof the control signal is not good, the level information 120 b regardingthe radiowave reception intensity for the m control signals is stored inthe ID code storage area 75 a.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram showing an example of the game processingaccording to this modification. Furthermore, in this game processing,the same processing steps as the game processing (refer to FIG. 9) thathas been described in the first embodiment are provided with the samestep numbers as those of the first embodiment and duplicatedexplanations are omitted.

First, during the period of progression control of a game, it isdetermined whether special processing has been required (step S501). Thespecial processing includes the encounter processing, the itemgeneration processing, or the scenario branch processing. In the casewhere none of the encounter processing, the item generation processing,and the scenario branch processing has been required, the process willmove on to step S214. On the other hand, in the case where any one ofthe encounter processing, the item generation processing, and thescenario branch processing has been required, the type of the processingthat has been required is identified first (step S502). Then, the datastored in the ID code storage area 75 a is acquired (step S503). Then,it is determined whether the acquired data is the base station ID code120 a or the level information 120 b regarding the radiowave receptionintensity (step S504).

In the case where the acquired data is the base station ID code 120 a,the determination processing for determining an enemy character tocombat against, the item generation processing, and the scenario branchprocessing are carried out by the method that has been described insteps S205-S213 of the game processing (refer to FIG. 9) according tothe first embodiment, in accordance with the corresponding base stationID code 120 a and the type of the processing that has been required(steps S505-S513). That is, the progression of the game is controlled inaccordance with the base station ID code 120 a.

On the other hand, in the case where the data acquired in step S504 isthe level information 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity,the determination processing for determining an enemy character tocombat, the item generation processing, and the scenario branchprocessing are carried out in accordance with the corresponding levelinformation 120 b and the type of the processing that has been required(steps S505-S513). That is, the progression of the game is controlled inaccordance with the level information 120 b regarding the radiowavereception intensity.

More specifically, in the case of the encounter processing (step S505),an enemy character to combat is determined, for example, by means ofrandom numbers, from one or more enemy characters stored in thecharacter control table 121, corresponding to the acquired levelinformation 120 b regarding the radiowave reception intensity (stepS506). Then, the image and information regarding the determined enemycharacter are displayed on the display 74 (step S507).

In the case of the item generation processing (step S508), an item to begenerated is determined, for example, by means of random numbers, fromone or more items stored in the item control table 122, corresponding tothe acquired level information 120 b regarding the radiowave receptionintensity (step S509). Then, the image and information regarding thedetermined item are displayed on the display 74 (step S510).

Moreover, in the case of the scenario branch processing (step S511), theprocess is as shown below. That is, the branch point number is describedbelow. That is, the branch point number is determined and then thebranch scenario information is acquired, which is stored in the scenariocontrol table 123 corresponding to this branch point number and theacquired level information 120 b regarding the radiowave receptionintensity (step S512). Then, the corresponding branch scenario data isread from the scenario data 86 of the ROM 70 and then transferred to thework area 75 c of the RAM 75. Then, the subsequent progression of thegame is controlled in accordance with the branch scenario datatransferred to the work area 75 c (step S513).

According to this modification example, the portable telephone set 6receives control signals that are transmitted via radio from a basestation, which controls the radio area where the portable telephone set6 is currently located. Then, the level information regarding theradiowave reception intensity of the control signal received is detectedand stored in the ID code storage area 75 a. Then, in the course of theprogression of the game, the game is allowed to proceed in accordancewith the level information regarding the radiowave reception intensitythat is stored in the ID code storage area 75 a and the imagescorresponding to the progression of the game are displayed on thedisplay 74. Therefore, in response to the radiowave reception intensityof the control signal, the contents of the game can be made different,such as the scenario branching during the game, and the character imagesand item images, which are displayed. Furthermore, the radio signal fordetecting the radiowave reception intensity may be an outgoing call, anincoming call, or a radio signal, which is transmitted from basestations regarding speech.

Furthermore, the aforementioned first embodiment and the modificationexample thereof were adapted so that programs and data relating to agame are stored in the ROM 70 beforehand. However, such a configurationmay be employed in which the programs and data relating to a given gamecan be downloaded to the portable telephone set 6 from other apparatusvia a base station.

FIG. 19 is a view showing an example of a system configuration fordownloading programs and data relating to a game to a portable telephoneset from another apparatus via a base station. In this example, aplurality of programs and data relating to a game, which are executablein a portable telephone set 20, are controlled by the center 9 of theportable telephone specific network 3. In order to download programs anddata relating to a game from the center 9, the portable telephone set 20carries out data communications with the center 9 via the correspondingbase station 4 e and the mobile exchange 8 a.

The portable telephone set 20 further comprises a flash ROM 22 forstoring programs and data relating to the game, which have beendownloaded from the center 9. In addition, in a ROM 21, programs anddata to be used for functions other than the game function are storedfor controlling each of the portions of the portable telephone set 20.

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram showing an example of the download processingto be executed by the portable telephone set 20. This downloadprocessing is executed during the waiting time of the portable telephoneset 20 and when the user operates the key input portion 72 to requestthe download of a game.

When the processing has been started, the portable telephone set 20prepares a communications environment to carry out data communicationswith the center 9 via the corresponding base station 4 e and mobileexchange 8 a (step S5). Subsequently, menu information regarding gamescontrolled by the center 9 and can be downloaded is downloaded (stepS40). Then, the downloaded menu information is displayed on the display74 (step S403).

Thereafter, user operation of the key input portion 72 to input thechoice of the game that is to be downloaded causes the game that is tobe downloaded to be determined in accordance with the operated input(step S404). Then, the programs and data relating to the game that hasbeen determined are downloaded to the portable telephone set 20 from thecenter 9 via the base station 4 e and mobile exchange 8 a (S405) andstored in flash ROM (S406). Subsequently, processing ends.

More specifically, for example, taking the first embodiment as anexample, programs relating to the ID code storage processing (refer toFIG. 8) and game processing (refer to FIG. 9), and game data, such asimages and information, relating to the character control table (referto FIG. 4), the item control table (refer to FIG. 5), the scenariocontrol table (refer to FIG. 6), scenario data (refer to FIG. 7),characters, and items can be downloaded.

This download processing makes it possible for the portable telephoneset 20 to download and use programs and data from the center 9, relatingto the game. Accordingly, this makes it possible to electronicallydistribute or sell programs and data relating to games as softwareapplications independently of the hardware. Furthermore, such aconfiguration may be employed to download programs and data relating togames from base stations.

Furthermore, it is also possible to download programs and data forupdating, rewriting, or adding part of or all of the game programs orthe game data. Such a configuration like this makes it possible for thesupplier of games to change the contents of the games supplied, byproviding the center 9 with the programs and data for changing thecontents of the games. For example, the download of such programs anddata to the portable telephone set 20 makes it possible to change enemycharacters to combat and items to be generated, and to add new branchscenarios or scenarios for special events to the games.

FIG. 21 is a view showing an example of the configuration of anothersystem for downloading programs and data relating to a game to aportable telephone set from another apparatus via a base station. Inthis example, programs and data relating to games that can be executedby the portable telephone set 20 are under the control of a gamemanagement server 13 that is coupled to the Internet 12. In addition,the Internet 12 is connected to the relay exchange 7 in the portabletelephone specific network 3. In order to download programs and datarelating to a game from the game management server 13, the portabletelephone set 20 carries out data communications with the gamemanagement server 13 via the corresponding base station 4 e, the mobileexchange 8 a, the relay exchange 7, and the Internet 12. Even with sucha configuration, it is possible for the portable telephone set 20 todownload the programs and data relating to the game from the gamemanagement server 13 and to use them.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment is explained. The second embodiment isdifferent from the first embodiment in the following points. That is,the first embodiment has described the case where the present inventionis applied to a portable telephone set. The second embodiment willdescribe the case where, in a mobile radio communications system such asa portable telephone set, the present invention is applied to a portablegame machine that is provided with a function for receiving controlsignals transmitted via radio from base stations and a function forextracting a base station ID code from the control signal received.

Accordingly, this second embodiment has a different hardwareconfiguration to which the present invention is applied. Other datastructure of tables and procedures for the ID code storage processingand game processing are principally the same as those of the firstembodiment. The same structure and processing as those of the firstembodiment are provided with the same reference numbers as those of thefirst embodiment and duplicated explanations are thereby omitted. Onlythe points that are different from the first embodiment are explainedbelow.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing an exemplary circuit configuration ofthe portable game machine according to the second embodiment. In themobile radio communications system 1 of a portable telephone set shownin FIG. 1, this portable game machine 100 has the function for receivingcontrol signals transmitted via radio from the base stations 4 a- 4 fand the function for extracting a base station ID code from the controlsignal received.

The portable game machine 100 comprises, for example, an antenna 101, aRF portion 102, a demodulation portion 103, a CPU 104, a ROM 105, a RAM106, a key input portion 107, a display drive circuit 108, a display109, an interface circuit 110, and a memory card 111.

In the mobile radio communications system 1 of the portable telephoneset shown in FIG. 1, control signals, which include base station IDcodes, transmitted via radio from the base stations 4 a- 4 f arereceived by the antenna 101. The signal received by the antenna 101 isamplified and frequency converted in the RF portion 102. Then,demodulation processing is carried out in the demodulation portion 103to extract necessary reception data. When compared with the antenna 61,the RF portion 62, and the MODEM portion 63 of the portable telephoneset 6 shown in FIG. 2 according to the first embodiment, the antenna101, the RF portion 102, and the demodulation portion 103 have only thefunctions shown below. That is, they function to receive control signalstransmitted via radio from the base stations 4 a- 4 f and function toextract a base station ID code from the control signal received.

The CPU 104 carries out the ID code storage processing (refer to FIG. 8)and game processing (refer to FIG. 9), which have been described in thefirst embodiment, in accordance with the program stored in the ROM 105and the memory card 111. Stored in the ROM 105 is an operation systemfor controlling each portion of the portable game machine 100. The RAM106 is a memory for storing programs and data temporarily and has thesame memory configuration as that of the RAM 71 shown in FIG. 3 in thefirst embodiment.

The key input portion 107 comprises direction keys and a plurality ofcontrol buttons. The display drive circuit 108 comprises a circuit forcontrollably driving the display 109, a display buffer, and CG. Thedisplay 109 comprises a LCD and displays images and letters. Theinterface circuit 110 is adapted to allow the memory card 111 to befreely mounted or removed.

The memory card 111 is, for example, a memory cartridge or a ROM card.In the memory card 111, programs and data for controlling games to beimplemented in the portable game machine 100 are stored. For example, inthe memory card 111, programs and data for controlling the ID codestorage processing (refer to FIG. 8), which has been described in thefirst embodiment, are stored. In addition, in the memory card 111, gameprograms for controlling the game processing (refer to FIG. 9) and datarequired for controlling the progression of games are stored. The datafor controlling the progression of games include, for example, thecharacter control table (refer to FIG. 4), the item control table (referto FIG. 5), the scenario control table (refer to FIG. 6), and the imagedata, control data, and scenario data (refer to FIG. 7) of thecharacters and items which are displayed on the display 109 in responseto the execution of games.

Programs and data recorded in the memory card 111 are read andtransferred to the RAM 106 as required in response to the command fromthe CPU 104. That is, the portable game machine 100 reads the programsand data for implementing the present invention into the RAM 106 of theportable game machine 100 and uses them by means of the memory card 111that is detachably provided in the portable game machine 100. Therefore,it becomes possible to readily distribute and sell the programs and datafor implementing the present invention as software applications (thememory card 111) independently of the hardware.

In the portable game machine 100 having such a configuration, carriedout are the ID code storage processing (refer to FIG. 8) and the gameprocessing (refer to FIG. 9), which have been described in the firstembodiment. However, unlike the portable telephone set 6, which has beendescribed in the first embodiment, the portable game machine 100 has nospeech function. Therefore, it is to be understood that the ID codestorage processing (refer to FIG. 8) is periodically carried out inaccordance with predetermined interrupt requests while the power of theportable game machine 100 is ON or the game processing is being carriedout in the portable game machine 100. However, such a configuration maybe employed to allow the ID code storage processing to be carried outonly when processing that requires a base station ID code in step S202of the game processing, that is, any one of the encounter processing,the item generation processing, and the scenario branch processing hasoccurred.

Such a control configuration would implement the same game control evenin the portable game machine 100 as in the portable telephone set 6 thathas been described in the first embodiment. That is, the portable gamemachine 100 receives control signals transmitted via radio from a basestation, which controls the radio area where the portable game machine100 is currently located. Then, the portable game machine 100demodulates the received control signal to extract the base station IDcode that is in turn stored in the RAM 106. This update processing ofbase station ID codes is carried out successively in accordance with apredetermined interrupt request while the power of the portable gamemachine 100 is ON or the game processing is being carried out in theportable game machine 100. Then, in the course of the progression of agame, the game is allowed to proceed in response to the value of thebase station ID code that has been stored in the RAM 106, and images aredisplayed on the display 109 in response to the progression of the game.

Accordingly, in the portable game machine 100, it is possible to allowthe contents of the game such as the scenario branches, and characterimages and item images that are displayed in the game to differ inaccordance with the area where the user is playing the game. On theother hand, the positional information for allowing the contents of thegame to differ employs base station ID codes that are transmittedperiodically via radio from the base stations 4 a- 4 f in the mobileradio communications system 1 (refer to FIG. 1). Thus, the contents ofthe game can be varied in accordance with the information regarding thecurrent position of the user.

Furthermore, in the second embodiment, the programs and data forimplementing the present invention are stored in the memory card 111,which is in turn used as a recording medium. However, the recordingmedium is not limited to memory cards. Other magnetic or opticalrecording media, or semiconductor memories, which are readable bycomputers, may be employed.

Moreover, in the second embodiment, in order for the portable gamemachine 100 to acquire positional information, a mobile radiocommunications system of a portable telephone set was used. However,mobile radio communications systems such as PHS or pagers may beutilized. Furthermore, such facilities as provided uniquely only forpurposes of allowing the portable game machine 100 to acquire positionalinformation may be utilized. As the facilities in this case,transmitters for transmitting position identifying information via radiomay be prepared in the areas under their own control and thesetransmitters may be located as appropriate in consideration of theircontrol areas.

In the foregoing, the first and second embodiments and a modification ofthe present invention have been specifically explained. However, thepresent invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments andmodification. As a matter of course, a change may be made in theinvention as appropriate without departing from the spirit and scopethereof.

For example, in the aforementioned first embodiment, the case in whichthe present invention is applied to a portable telephone set has beendescribed. However, the present invention is not limited to portabletelephone sets but may be applied to PHS, pagers, or the like. Inaddition, in the aforementioned second embodiment, the case where thepresent invention is applied to a portable game machine has beendescribed. However, the present invention is also applicable to anelectronic device if the device is provided with the function forreceiving control signals transmitted via radio from base stations in amobile radio communications system and the function for demodulating thereceived control signal to extract a base station ID code therefrom. Forexample, the present invention may be applied to electronic notebooks,portable information terminals, or car navigation systems.

Furthermore, the aforementioned first and second embodiments are adaptedto allow the contents of games to differ in accordance only with basestation ID codes. However, such a configuration may be employed to useother information to allow the contents of the game to differ, inaddition to the base station ID code. For example, consider a case wherethe portable telephone set 6 or the portable game machine 100, which hasbeen described in the aforementioned first or second embodiment, isfurther comprised of a time clocking function for clocking the currenttime. In this case, such a configuration may be employed to allow thecontents of the game such as scenario branches and the character imagesand item images that are to be displayed during the game to be varied inaccordance with base station ID codes and information regarding thecurrent time that is obtained by the time clocking function.

Furthermore, the aforementioned first and second embodiments are adaptedto vary the progression of a game by using base station ID codes asidentification information. However, the identification information isnot limited to base station ID codes. That is, radio zone ID informationor simultaneous calling area ID information may be employed.

Furthermore, in a mobile radio communication system of portabletelephone sets employing CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), thecontrol signal transmitted via radio from a base station includesinformation regarding the latitude and longitude of the base station.Accordingly, the progression of the game that is executed on a mobileterminal may be varied by using the information regarding the latitudeand longitude of the base station in place of the base station ID code.That is, the mobile terminal receives the control signal transmitted viaradio from a base station, which controls the radio area where themobile terminal is currently located. Then, the mobile terminaldemodulates the received control signal to detect the informationregarding the latitude and longitude of the base station and then storesthe information in the internal memory. Then, in the course of theprogression of the game, the game is allowed to proceed in accordancewith the value of the information regarding the latitude and longitudeof the base station that has been stored in the internal memory, and theimages in response to the contents of the progression of the game aredisplayed on a display screen. As such, scenario branches and thecharacter images and item images to be displayed during the game may beallowed to differ in accordance with the information regarding thelatitude and longitude of the base station.

According to the present invention, the contents of a game can be variedin accordance with the current location of a mobile terminal, that is,in accordance with the area where the user is playing the game with themobile terminal.

The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in priorityJapanese Patent Application Nos. HEI 11-375189, filed on Dec. 28, 1999,and HEI 11-278899, filed on Sep. 30, 1999, the contents of which areherein expressly incorporated by reference in their entireties.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile terminal comprising: a branch pointdetermination system that determines which branch point is reachedduring game progress; a detector that detects a base stationidentification signal; a storage that stores, for each branch point, acorrespondence between branch scenarios and base station information;and a progress system that progresses the game in accordance with abranch scenario selected based upon the base station identificationsignal and the determined branch point.
 2. The mobile terminal accordingto claim 1, wherein the base station identification information isprovided uniquely for each of a plurality of base stations with whichthe mobile terminal communicates.
 3. The mobile terminal according toclaim 1, further comprising a character storage that stores acorrespondence relationship between base station information and atleast one game character, wherein the progress system determines a gamecharacter to be displayed from the at least one game character stored inthe character storage corresponding to the base station information tovary the progression of the game.
 4. The mobile terminal according toclaim 1, further comprising an item storage that stores a correspondencerelationship between base station information and at least one itemhaving an attribute for varying a game progression, wherein the progresssystem determines an item to be displayed from the at least one itemstored in the item storage corresponding to the base station informationto vary the progression of the game.
 5. The mobile terminal according toclaim 1, further comprising a data acquisition system that acquiresprograms and data of a game from another apparatus which can communicatewith a plurality of base stations, wherein the progress system allowsthe game to proceed in accordance with programs and data of the game,which the data acquisition system acquired.
 6. A computer readablerecording medium in which programs of a game to be executed on a mobileterminal are stored, the computer readable recording medium storingprograms for allowing a computer: to determine which branch point isreached during game progress; to detect a base station identificationsignal; to store, for each branch point, a correspondence between branchscenarios and base station information; and to progress the game inaccordance with a branch scenario selected based upon the base stationidentification signal and the determined branch point.
 7. The computerprogram according to claim 6, wherein the base station identificationinformation is provided uniquely for each of a plurality of basestations.
 8. The computer program according to claim 6, wherein when thegame proceeds, a game character to be displayed is determined from atleast one previously stored game character corresponding to the basestation information, to vary the progression of the game.
 9. Thecomputer program according to claim 6, wherein when the game proceeds,an item to be displayed is determined from at least one previouslystored item corresponding to the base station information to vary theprogression of the game, each item having an attribute for varying agame progression.
 10. The computer program according to claim 6, whereinbefore a game is allowed to proceed, programs and data of the game areacquired from one of a base station and another apparatus which cancommunicate with the base station, and when the game proceeds, the gameproceeds in accordance with the acquired programs and data of the game.